434 A LION-SPEARING SAFARI. 



Colonel Roosevelt arrived at Mongalla on March 2, and imme- 

 diately after landing performed the ceremony of planting a tree to 

 commemorate his visit. 



The preceding day the Colonel encountered a foretaste of the 

 strenuous hospitality which characterized his progress through the 

 Soudan and Europe. 



Leaving Gondokoro in the morning, he arrived at noon at 

 Lado, an attractive station on the Encalave section of the Congo. 



At the landing stage the strapping Congolese soldiers under 

 Commandant Rekke formed a guard of honor and escorted the 

 Colonel from the landing stage, while hundreds of the inhabitants 

 of the nearby villages followed in procession, anxious to see the 

 khaki-shirted " King of Americani." 



Colonel Roosevelt was entertained at luncheon by tne com- 

 mandant, the company numbering ten in all. 



THE COLONEL IN HAPPY MOOD. 



The Colonel was in his happiest mood, speaking French exclu- 

 sively, and keeping the company laughing with his humorous tales 

 of hunting in America and Africa, 



He had only a few hours respite before reaching Mongalla, 

 where the reception was much more elaborate, as Colonel Owen, 

 Governor of the Province, has been for 3^ears an admirer of Colonel 

 Roosevelt's words and deeds. 



A huge American flag flew from a special flagstafl". It flut- 

 tered between the red-crossed emblem of the Soudan and the Union 

 Jack of Great Britain. 



The Soudanese troops formed a guard of honor for Colonel 

 Roosevelt, whose military ardor is as strong as ever. He was parti- 

 cularly struck by the general bearing of these soldiers. 



After dinner at the Governor's residence the guest of honor 

 witnessed a native dance arranged for his entertainment. A thou- 

 sand or more native warriors in wonderful ostrich headdresses and 

 with their bodies decorated here and uncovered there after the 

 African native mode and carrying terrifying broadhead spears. 



Surrounding the dancers were hundreds of carriers, and in a 



